Reports

Report on Reducing Development Inequalities through South-South Cooperation for a Sustainable Future in the post-COVID Arena - Virtual Webinar

The United Nations Office of South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) had put out a Call on various themes under South South Ideas and Public Affairs Centre (PAC), was selected to prepare and present a paper on – Advancing alternative development paradigms under South South Cooperation taking up a case study on India’s Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation or the ITEC Programme. This development cooperation programme was instituted in 1964 by the Government of India with the idea to share development lessons that the country was imbibing. The idea was to develop relations with other developing countries on the basis of partnership and cooperation for mutual benefit. The paper assessed the usefulness of ITEC in the context of Global South progress and South South Cooperation. Referring to the ITEC programmes carried out with India’s neighbouring countries Nepal and Bangladesh, PAC arrived at a framework for assessment and concluded that there is a need to align such programmes to the development needs of the partner or recipient countries to meet with their national objectives and SDG Targets. 

PAC in consultation with UNOSSC decided to place this paper in the broader context of addressing development inequalities among countries of the Global South, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19 that has set back the development trajectories of our countries by many years and the role that such programmes can play in mutualising risks and benefits.

In this panel discussion facilitated by Public Affairs Centre (PAC), a 27-year Think Tank working towards good governance, the panelists attempted to investigate the links between current social protection approaches and inequality in developing countries in the Global South, with a focus on political economy drivers and the role of actors and institutions in recent reform and implementation processes. The panellists will also shed light on key feasible practices such as mutualisation of knowledge and experience through programmes such as ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation) to work towards an equitable and sustainable future.